EASTERN EUROPE

During the last week, Flat Hawkster has been touring through Krakow, Budapest,  and Vienna.  It was a busy schedule that included some very long train rides.  Did you know that the train rails/wheels are different in some Eastern European countries?  This means that the entire train's wheels need to be switched before riding the new rails.  It takes a long time to switch all those wheels.  Many train companies will avoid having to change the wheels by taking a much longer route.  It was a lot of travel but filled with plenty of unique experiences for a Hawk from Ladner. 

He began in Krakow, which is one of Poland’s largest cities with a population of 800,000.  There are over 8 million people living within 100 km of Krakow and it is a busy tourist site, place of business and centre for education.  Flat Hawkster enjoyed visiting the local castle (Wawel Castle) but the highlight of his trip was the  Wieliczka Salt Mine.   This huge mine is 1000 ft deep, 10 km in area with over 200 km of tunnels spread out over 9 levels.  The mine was started in 13th century and still produces some salt but it is mainly a tourist site now. People are allowed to go 300 ft below the earth's surface to view underground Chapels and huge chambers with large Salt block carvings.  It was really cool!

Wawel Castle.  There is a cave underneath one of the towers
and it is said to have been a Dragon's Den at one point.
Flat Hawkster investigated but did not find any Dragons,
just plenty of tourists who aren't that scary after you get to
know them:)

Krakow's public square with plenty of horse-drawn carriages available to
take tourists around what was once the largest square in all of Medieval
Europe.

Flat Hawkster is pictured in one of the many corridors at the salt mine.  Things
looked safe but he was a little concerned about having 120 m of dirt above him.

This is one of the mine's underwater lakes. There is so much salt in this "lake" that
it would be almost impossible for a human to sink in the water.

The salt mine had many chambers along with over 20 chapels.  The chapels
were there because mining was a dangerous occupation and the over 3500
miners who had worked there required spiritual support.

In Budapest, Flat Hawkster visited some of the usual tourist sites that included churches, palaces and museums.  During his time here he discovered that this is actually a city with two cities: Buda and Pest.  Buda is high on the hill overlooking Pest.   These places are separated by the Danube river which runs through a number of European countries:  Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Serbia, Ukraine, Croatia, Moldova, Bulgaria and Romania.   As a result the Danube has been an important transportation link for thousands of years.  Today,  many people travel from city to city on Danube River Cruises.

The view from Buda looking down towards Pest.

Budapest has a very old subway system but it has been maintained very well.
Each station is very clean and looks almost identical to all the others.

One day Flat Hawkster treated himself to a thermal spa in Budapest's city park.
This spa's pools were filled with water that is heated thermally by the earth
and contains a number of minerals that apparently are good for people's health.
There were 15 indoor pools and 3 outdoor ones.  A very busy place!

Vienna was the last stop on the tour this week.  It is a beautiful city in the country of Austrian where they speak German.  Much of their history, good and bad, is shared with Germany.  This city was also home to a number of famous composers such as Mozart and Strauss.   Music is a very important part of Viennese life and the city boasts a large number of concert halls.  Vienna is consistently ranked as one of the best cities in the world (along with Vancouver) and Flat Hawkster could see some of the reasons why.  It is a very clean, safe and has plenty of parks for people to spend time in.

This is the Danube river that winds its way through Vienna and many other
cities in Europe.

This is the enormous St. Stephens Basilica church.  Its tower stands 1000ft high
with over 300 steps leading to the top.  It was a workout but the view of the city
is impressive.

There was an Agricultural fair taking place in one of Vienna's many city parks.
You can see the huge public library in the background.

This was the summer palace for Austria's royalty.